Gints Šmits leads a research laboratory at the Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis (LIOS) and serves as an Assistant Professor at Riga Technical University (RTU), Latvia. He earned his Ph.D. from RTU in 2015 under the supervision of Dr. Ronalds Zemribo, focusing on the synthesis of natural products. Afterward, he joined the group of Prof. Nicolai Cramer at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, where he was working on Rh and Ir metal complexes as a postdoctoral researcher.
In 2017, he began his independent research career at LIOS. His current research interests include total synthesis, main group catalysis, medicinal chemistry, and materials science. He is also a co-founder of PrintyMed, a startup pioneering the development of medical devices made from artificial spider silk.